Sherlock Holmes : The Missing Link
by xoKrystalMox
Summary: John H. Watson was targeted to be killed by a trained shooter and no one else knows; not even Sherlock until the first attempt was made. Now, secrets will unravel and mysteries would surface when no one had any idea on why John was wanted dead. Can the famous detective find out the person who hired the shooter, the reasons and connect the missing link before it's too late?
1. The First Attempt

Title: The Missing Link

Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John H. Watson

Genre: Mystery/Adventure/Friendship

Disclaimer: Sherlock Holmes belongs to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to the director and producer and copyright for the movie 'Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows' and BBC Entertainment for the series Sherlock.

Summary: John H. Watson was being targeted to be killed by a trained shooter and no one else knows; not even Sherlock until the first attempt was made. Now, secrets will unravel and mysteries would surface when no one had any idea on why John was wanted dead. Can the famous detective find out the reasons why and stop this assassination on John before it gets too late? To do that, Sherlock needs to find the missing link. Who's the person who hired the shooter? And why?

* * *

**A/N: This is my official first Sherlock Holmes fan fiction. But, this is based on what I had read and what I had watched. I FINALLY got the chance to watch Sherlock season two. They practically summed up season one in season two the DVD I bought but meh. And I was just so sad to see Sherlock leaving John like that! And I had to wait for the season three now. -sighs- **

**Also have you noticed that Sherlock and John's friendship is a bit too deep? Idk to you but to me after watching the movie, reading the book and as for the series, it seemed like their friendship is special and that's rare. To have a friendship like Sherlock and John. ;w;**

**Anyway, my first attempt at mystery. Lol~ Anyway, hope you like this! And review to let me know! ^^ **

**-k.m **

* * *

**The First Attempt**

* * *

In the finest evening in London, at Baker Street, John Hamish Watson was just going back to his flat after a hard day's work. Being an ex-army doctor; he had experience in medicine and war. His life was very much content now—especially when he had found Sherlock. The famous detective and also currently labelled by Watson a sociopath. John shared a flat with the detective and slowly Sherlock became his friend. A partner in solving crimes. At first meeting; John was quite taken aback when Sherlock asked him which war he had been. John hadn't even uttered a word back then and Sherlock just asked 'Iran or Afghanistan'?

That was the turning point he supposed that he began to see Sherlock in a new light. Being a partner in solving crimes was even dangerous than being a soldier in war. His life was constantly in danger; sometimes even closing to death. However, John couldn't complain. His life slowly started to become boring after the war and he had to take therapy to get over the nightmares but when he started to live with Sherlock; the whole dangerous feeling was taken to a whole new level that it was somewhat—_addicting. _

Climbing up the stairs and opening the door to his flat; John wasn't surprised to see the detective nowhere near the living room instead a foul smell managed to make its way to John's nose. John walked to the kitchen suspecting it was coming from there and was given a mild heart attack when he saw Sherlock with his goggles doing another experiment. Sherlock was engrossed in his experiment—looking at the specimen under a microscope as something green-ish boiled in the beaker under the Bunsen burner.

"Another experiment, Holmes?" John asked as simple as he could as he walked past Sherlock to the counter. No response. It wasn't something to be expected. John was used to the quiet silence as he took out the sugar cubes and the tea bags; well he hoped it was those things. "Tea?"

"No, thank you," Sherlock replied quickly as he could. John just went ahead and did a cup of tea for himself. Bringing the tea to the living room; he decided to sit down and blog since he hadn't had time to do it anymore. After the last case was solved which happened about two days ago; John had went back to the clinic only to be bombarded with patients. He didn't even have time to blog and today seemed perfect since he came home a bit earlier than usual. Mary even insisted that he should take a break.

Placing the cup of tea on a table, John picked up his laptop which was half opened and went to his blog. He knew who took his laptop which was lazing in his room and he knew who once again cracked through his password. Sherlock was the first person John had met that didn't like to stay away from people's personal space and John's space as well included. Logging in, he added on all the important notes there was for the previous case which was a murder of a teenager.

John still remembered the vivid image of the girl. It was saddening really and anger bubbled in him when the entire clue had led to her father. John simply pushed the thoughts away as he continued on typing. That was when his phone decided to buzz. Quickly grabbing his phone from his pants pocket, he saw a text message and it was from Mary. With a smile, he opened the text message.

_A date? _John mused in his mind. Well, it would be fine since he hadn't gone on a date with Mary for so long. He had been going out with Mary for the past three months now but of course, Sherlock would always come in between since his cases were almost too dangerous to ignore all the time. With a positive reply, John decided to just finish posting his blog and went to freshen up himself.

* * *

Walking down the stairs looking new and clean, he met with Sherlock who came out of the kitchen as he took out his goggles. The detective then turned around and noticed John looking at him. "Experiment is done, I suppose," John concluded as he walked past Sherlock to take his coat. Sherlock didn't say anything and John was sure that he was deducing about where he was going.

"A date?" Sherlock asked monotonously. "With Mary I suppose."

"Yes," John said as he turned around and looked at Sherlock. "Make sure you don't make Mrs Hudson suffer so much."

With that said, John just exited their flat and head towards the restaurant that he knows Mary would love to eat in. Hailing a taxi, John had left for the date, leaving Sherlock inside the flat alone and unaware of a presence in the dark that had watched his every move since he had come home. The taxi ride was short as he saw paid the fees and got out of the car. John then walked to Mary's house and stood in front of her door. He tugged on his coat before he pressed on the doorbell once.

It only took a few minutes before Mary opened the door with a smile and she looked absolutely beautiful that the ex-army doctor's breath was stolen. "You look dashing," she said as John only smiled.

"You look beautiful yourself," John complimented as Mary blushed a bit. "Let's go?" John asked as he held out his right arm out. Mary only nodded as she took held of his arm and they both walked to the restaurant. Little did they know that the night they were about to live in would be a nightmare. John just didn't know it yet.

Walking into the restaurant and greeted by the waiter, they were brought to a table at a corner and it was quite quiet there. Mary seemed to enjoy the privacy and John did too actually since Sherlock had managed to steal his privacy every single time before. Not that he mind. It was one of the things inside a package when you were about to live with Sherlock. The menu was given and John had just looked through the items.

"All of these sound so delicious," Mary mused on as John nodded in agreement. They certainly do. The whole quiet moment somehow only lasted a few more minutes when his phone started to buzz in his jacket. John slowly took his phone out and placed the menu on the table. It was a text message—from Sherlock. Of course, it was always like this.

* * *

_Opposite of you at the far corner in the right._

_-SH_

* * *

John just looked at the direction as he scanned the room. "What is it, John?" Mary somehow interrupted his look as John only looked back at her and shook his head in response. But his eyes went back searching until he found a familiar figure sitting at that table, with a hat covering his face but his eyes were boring into John's and the ex-army doctor knew who it was. With that he sighed and looked back at his phone before texting back.

* * *

_What are you doing here?_

* * *

John saw the man getting the message as he texted back quickly. Just within minutes, the message had arrived in his phone with a beeping sound. Mary only raised both of her eyebrows as John only smiled at her assuring that it was nothing before he read the message. Couldn't Holmes leave him alone especially when it was a date night?

* * *

_Confirming a doubt._

_-SH_

* * *

John was mild confused with what Sherlock had wrote. Confirming a doubt? What doubt? He had the urge to ask but then Mary shot him a look and that was it. John didn't want to jeopardise his date with Mary just because Sherlock wanted to confirm a doubt. But bloody hell—how in the world did Sherlock knew where he was and how did he get here? John just went on with the date like usual as the finally called for the waiter. As they waited for the waiter to come and take the orders; John slowly looked back at the table again and sighed in relief when Sherlock was no longer there. Maybe his doubt was confirmed so he went home.

"What will your orders be?" and John just looked at the man before freezing. John could only grit his teeth. Of course he wouldn't leave. However, Mary didn't seem to notice as John only stared at the waiter.

"John?" Mary asked as John snapped out from looking at the _waiter_ and looked back at his date.

"Ah, we'll have the fish fillet salad," John ordered casually trying his best to ignore. He just closed the menu and handed back to the waiter. The so called _waiter_ just took the menus not before a small paper was slipped to John's fingertips. John only raised both of his eyebrows at him before the waiter walked away leaving John with the paper. John simply sighed and looked at the neatly small folded paper. He knows that he shouldn't read it in front of Mary. It would cause suspicions and Mary would definitely get annoyed if she had found out that John was busy taking care of Sherlock instead of having a date with her.

"I'm going to the gent's," John excused himself as he got up.

"Alright," Mary said as she seemed to be taken aback a bit with John sudden standing. John just gave her a smile before walking to the gent's holding onto the paper in his grip. Once inside the gent's; he opened the paper and read it. At first he thought it was a joke but then—Sherlock never joked. What written on this paper was somehow true?

"You're bloody kidding," John muttered to himself.

"No, John, I'm not," Sherlock suddenly came out from one of the stalls as he made his way to the sink to wash his hands. John was shocked a bit but that only lasted for a few minutes before irritation made up in his mind.

"What do you mean someone's following me?" John asked expiated. "I don't see anyone."

"You're not observant then," Sherlock said as he wiped his hand with a tissue paper and threw it away and walked towards John with a serious façade. "Someone's following you, John. I've noticed."

"So that's your doubt?" John asked as he immediately believed Sherlock. The ex-army doctor would definitely believe anything that the detective told him when it was something serious. It was how he trusted the detective. And this was definitely not something that Sherlock would joke about.

"Yes," Sherlock said. "And it's been confirmed someone's following you."

John remained silent before his eyes widened. "Mary," John said as he rushed out of the gent's followed by Sherlock. John went back to his table as he saw Mary looking at her hands before she looked up at John with a smile. Her smile immediately faded when she saw Sherlock next to him.

"Holmes?" she was surprised to see him there as John sighed in relief. Sherlock only greeted with a smile before he went and sat next to her. John was flabbergasted for a while before he labelled that this date was over. He just sat back on his seat which was opposite of Mary. "What's going on?" Mary asked confused as she looked at John.

"Nothing to worry," the ex-army doctor lied.

"Well, yes, nothing you have to be worried about anyway," Sherlock added as he looked away from Mary and to John before looking around. Mary was even more confused. She didn't know what the two men were talking about and she had a feeling that it wasn't nice. John didn't reply anything else as he slowly looked at Sherlock and followed his gaze. However, where Sherlock was looking at was at a table where someone had sat and now it was empty only leaving a half empty cut of tea. Sherlock then looked to the left and to the right before he suspected something. "Well, I suppose I'll be joining you on your date."

Mary's eyes went wide. "What?" she asked as she looked at John.

"I don't think it's that necessary, Holmes," John said as he gave Sherlock a look.

"Well, I think it is," Sherlock said. "I'm quite hungry. What are we having?"

* * *

John didn't know which was worse—the thing that he had believed Sherlock or the fact Mary had left him after the date saying she understand that something was up and they could do this maybe next time. She understood but she was definitely not pleased with Sherlock's sudden appearance. Walking to the lonely street to get to Baker Street, the two men walked silently.

"I don't understand," John had said suddenly. "Why would anyone want to follow me?"

"For different reasons," Sherlock had said quietly as he thought the same thing. John was definitely someone important to Sherlock and even Moriarty had once tried to harm him. John was Sherlock's weakness as he had never had a _friendship_ more deep than he had with John. John walked quietly until Sherlock stopped walking. John stopped too and looked at Sherlock sensing something's about happen.

"What is it?" John whispered slowly under his breath as Sherlock looked past John's shoulder and looked away.

"Keep walking," he muttered as he started to walk. John just followed him slowly. "On your right; second floor at one of the vacant houses, someone's there."

John felt the colour on his face draining out but he managed to keep himself looking calm as he walked with Sherlock. "What do you see?" John asked again slowly but Sherlock only kept on walking quietly.

Everything was quiet. Everything was eerie. Only the heavy footsteps of the two men could be heard. Nothing else resounded and John had begun to feel weak inside. It was nervousness mixing with fear but he bets that would just make the situation worse. He also felt like someone was watching him. That was until suddenly Sherlock pushed him on the ground and the first shoot and the second shoot and the rapid repetition of the gun could be heard as John scrambled on the ground and both men started to run to hide. Sherlock took out his gun and shot at the window that he thought he saw the opening and hid behind a car. Everything went quiet after that. There was no sound. There was nothing. John was breathing rapidly as Sherlock was too.

"Call Lestrade," Sherlock demanded as John quickly took out his phone and called the inspector. Sherlock slowly got out from the car as John looked at him. There was nothing after that. Nothing and Sherlock finally concluded that it was safe again. John slowly came out from the car too and noticed the scattered bullet cases on the ground.

"What was that?" John asked as he finished letting Lestrade know about the scene and called his policemen over to secure the place. Sherlock only stared at the window before he walked to the bullet cases and took one. Scanning the bullet and the shape; and the feeling. The tip of the bullet case was sharp and precise to penetrate and kill. Sherlock had his doubts but he had seen these types of bullets before. There was only one reason if these type of bullets were used, and that was when it is an—

"Attempt in assassination."

* * *

**Well, till' we meet again! ^^**


	2. Confusion and Hidden Clues

**Well, I was quite busy but here's the next chapter! I still think I captured both character's personalities quite well, but meh. Now, this is mystery~ So, mostly mystery~ I like mysteries, don't you think? Though, the unusual deep friendship between Sherlock and John will also be added cause' that's my favorite part! xD **

**Anyway, hope you guys like this chapter! I already wrote my disclaimer on the first chapter. **

**Till' we meet again!**

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**CHAPTER 2 **

* * *

**Confusion and Hidden Clues**

* * *

John was stunned and well, what else could he do? He just heard that that little gun fire was apparently meant for him! It was a miracle he could keep calm like this meanwhile if it was someone else, they would surely be mourning over their bad luck and practically be freaked out. However, John just stood there, staring at Sherlock, trying to form some kind of sentence to break the silence.

"W-what?" was all his genius mind could come up with as Sherlock held up one of the bullet casing.

"It's no miss-fire, John," the detective explained. "Someone's trying to _kill _you."

"I get that!" John finally exclaimed as the reality seemingly seeped into his skin. Sherlock was quite taken aback with that sudden explosion but remained stoic with his facial expression. John took a step back and tried to calm himself down. There was definitely no reason to panic. Though, Sherlock was almost never wrong. _Almost_ and so, John suddenly desperately wanted this to be one of those times Sherlock was rarely wrong. "What I do not get is that why would anyone want me dead?"

John should've really known better than to ask that question. "No, don't answer," John could always understand why he was sometimes wanted _dead_. _Sherlock_, it was all because he had associated with Sherlock, not that John was regretting. In fact, it was somehow the best thing that had ever happened in his boring life. Stumbling into this detective's life and chasing after relentless of weird yet amazingly mind blowing, adrenaline pumping cases, it was hard for John to _regret_ ever meeting with Sherlock.

Sherlock was somehow furrowing his eyebrows deeply when he noticed John's face slowly decolourising. It was enough for Sherlock to deduce that John—he was _afraid_. Who wouldn't be actually? John was taking in huge breaths and tried to calm himself. He was sure there must be a logical explanation to why he was targeted. John soon shook his head and removed the thoughts. "I can't believe it's happening to me _now_," John almost sounded like he was whining but Sherlock knew better.

"Then when did you want it to happen?" Sherlock mused monotonously gaining a glare from his blonde friend.

"Well, I don't know, Sherlock," John slowly looked at the sky and shrugged casually before he snapped his gaze at the detective's pale face and glared full force, forcing the words out sarcastically and eerily, "Maybe, _never_!"

* * *

Inspector Detective Lestrade had already waltzed into the crime scene, bringing along Anderson as well as Donovan. Sherlock simply scowled and tried to ignore Anderson's snarky comments every time Sherlock had made a deduction. John simply was brought away from the crime scene, as to see that John was now the victim and no longer the solver. The police officer simply asked John some series of questions, which John knew Lestrade already knew the answers to. However, it was police procedure, or so he had hoped it was. "No, Lestrade," John replied hoping he doesn't come out too hard. "I don't have any enemies."

The police officer simply nodded. "Don't worry, John," Lestrade said as he patted John's shoulder. He, then, walked away, not daring to complete the sentence of saying it will all be alright. Because, even John, who wasn't as smart as Sherlock, knew that it _wasn't_ going to be all peaches and cherries. However, this wasn't the first case that John had seen, since he had solved many other cases with Sherlock before, and he knew that things could get worse. It was, however, a different feeling, when you were the victim.

"Let's go home," Sherlock suddenly was next to John as he looked at him with a blank emotion. John simply nodded, not really wanting to say anything else.

* * *

The whole ride home was peculiar in the sense that there was no bickering neither no words exchanged between the detective and the doctor. In fact, John was in his own world right now. He was shocked and he was terrified. Worse things have happened to him before such as getting strapped with a bomb or the fact that he thought he was getting chased by a hound dog to only find out it was one of Sherlock's experiments to deduce if someone have used drugs on the victim. Though, every time it happened, every time a danger occurred on him, he couldn't remove the fear.

And he was certain—Sherlock couldn't too. He tried, very hard last time. Saying he was divorced with his feelings, but it was proven wrong when he, himself was shaken up from the incident where he had spotted a hound dog in the forest. Walking up the stairs to where their rooms were and the living room as well as the kitchen, John only ignored Mrs Hudson's questions and walked to his room, slamming his room door shut before he groggily made his way towards the bed and slumped on it.

He tried to wrap his mind on things. It was weird yet not so weird. Why anyone would want him dead besides the thing about Sherlock? John—he had no answers and honestly, he was too tired to even think now. He looked at the alarm clock and noticed it was almost midnight. He was exhausted and he just didn't want to talk to anyone right now. With that, not even a slight inch of movement, John had fallen asleep.

* * *

Sherlock was busy, playing his violin, unable to sleep, just wondering why John was targeted. It certainly wasn't a new thing yet it still seemed a bit off. He didn't tell John this, but, the bullet casing, they weren't normal bullet casing. They were created; or custom made and they seemed to have a perfect sharpness at the edge—perfect for a _deadly _blow.

Therefore, if the shooter had wanted John dead in an instant, he would have done so. However, John wasn't dead and that was the thought that bothered Sherlock most.

* * *

Morning arrived as normally as it would, showering London and Baker Street with its golden rays. However, in this early morning, Sherlock mused on when he noticed that John hadn't come out from his room yet, in fact, he hadn't even heard anything moving in his room. Mrs Hudson was surprised too. John wasn't someone who would sleep in. He had a job to attend to or at least do something. Therefore, it was quite surprising when John had come out from his room, hair messed up, badges under his eyes and they were swollen, and how he just looked like crap.

"Oh, dear," Mrs Hudson walked over to John who was yawning slowly to himself before he greeted like his normal self.

"Morning, Mrs Hudson. Sherlock," he said slowly as he walked to the table and sat on one of the chairs, immediately getting the newspaper which was on the table, folded and untouched. Sherlock stared at John, deducing everything about him. John noticed that sharp look emitting from Sherlock and looked at him, crunching onto his toast, like he usually does.

"You haven't slept last night?" Sherlock asked casually.

John remained quiet for a moment, looking away from Sherlock as he munched on his toast. "I slept well enough," he lied and Sherlock narrowed his eyes.

"Really? The badges under your eyes doesn't seem like so, your shoulders slouched and you haven't taken a bath like you usually do. You hair's a mess and you slept in your clothes and didn't bother to change. I would deduce saying that you were traumatized for a while but then again, you didn't sleep last night at all and so I must say that since you have post-war traumas and they haven't clearly cleared, the shoot out yesterday must have triggered nightmares. Am I wrong?" Sherlock said as fast as he can causing John to wince at his accurate deductions.

"Well, I'm in no mood to flaunt your skills, thank you very much," John hissed as he got up from his chair abruptly and walked away to his room, maybe to have a fresh bath or anything to relieve him from the sudden appearance of the nightmares as so mentioned by Sherlock.

"Sherlock!" Mrs Hudson scolded Sherlock. The detective was quite taken aback as well with that sudden reaction from John. His flatmate, his _friend_, never acted that way before. It was always with showered compliments, even if they were sarcastic, they had, strangely and even though Sherlock tried to deny it, meant something to the detective compared to the remarks of the others.

John just had showered and decided to skip work today, calling Mary, telling her that he needed to stay home. Precisely, even if John had gone to work, Sherlock would have followed him. Sherlock was out and about, asking John to just stay at home. He didn't apologize for what had happened this morning and John hadn't expected him to apologize either. It just wasn't Sherlock's character.

Mrs Hudson was quite busy as well. John was just left alone in the house, reading through newspapers and looking through his blog to check the news read. It was until a few minutes of scrolling through the comment did one particular comment looked weird for him. He re-read the comment a few times but it still sounded weird. But what could be weird about a simple comment?

* * *

_From: Guest_

_Ah, explainS the SAme SIgn iN All The vIctims. jOhN, this is awesOme aNd Jolly Hilarity News CoUld really RelaTE thiS case from the rest. _

_SincerelY_

_ FROM L._

* * *

Though, it made no sense. Why would this comment seem weird? It was just uppercase and lower case problems with grammar problems. Though, Jolly Hilarity News? He hadn't heard of that news before. Maybe it was an overseas company? John just shrugged it off, not wanting to think about this anymore and slammed his laptop shut. John decided that maybe he should just sit down and calm himself down.

With that made up in his mind, he did just that. He just sat there and thought about what happened. It was definitely no miss fire like Sherlock had said. But then again, yesterday, Sherlock seemed a bit out of it too. As if, he was keeping something from his friend. John sighed exasperated before the door of the flat was closed; alarming him that somehow had walked into the flat. With the slow movement of the feet, he knew it was Sherlock. He just knew it was him.

"Found anything?" John asked as he didn't bother to get up neither move.

"Apparently not," Sherlock said as he quickly walked to his table and sat down on the chair, thinking to himself for a while.

"I see," John was not being himself though. He didn't know why.

"Anything peculiar?" Sherlock suddenly asked as John felt his gaze once again on him. John tensed for a moment, still bothered about the comment, but decided against that it didn't mean anything.

"No," John said but Sherlock only snorted.

"You don't lie very well, John," Sherlock had to retort. John just sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and got up.

"I'm going out for a while," John said casually as he grabbed his coat and walked away, not letting Sherlock to finish his words. Sherlock got up immediately to chase after John, not really sure why John was suddenly acting distant. John opened the door of his flat and was about to walk out when he saw an envelope. He bent down and took the envelope, unsure what it was. He tore open the opening and looked into it, to find a piece of picture. He took it out slowly and went pale when he saw his face, on the picture and words written were—

_You're next._

* * *

**I know it sounds childish, the ending, but imagine you being John. After getting fired at, suddenly you found a letter, with your face, and written the words, 'You're next'. I don't think you could even imagine it as a prank, right? xD Anyway, sorry it's short. I have a writer's block already! Anyway, hope you guys liked this! ^^ Review~? Maybe, no? Yes? xD See you guys soon~**


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